The Waitaha People.

The South Otago name Waiwera—often translated “wai,” water, and “wera,” hot—is a place name preserved from Waitaha times. In North Auckland there is a place called Waiwera, and there are hot springs in the neighbourhood. There are no hot springs in South Otago, and the water in the Waiwera River could never be described as even warm.

Place names in Otago were set down by early travellers and surveyors. Mostly these people came from the north, and did not appreciate the fact that there was a southern dialect. As early place names were set down without any inquiry as to their traditional page 30 meaning, it is not possible to–day to take a list of place names in one hand and a Maori dictionary in the other and so compile a satisfactory account of what place names mean.

From the traditions of the Waitaha people we get the real reason for the naming of Waiwera.